Present simple vs present continuous

PRESENT SIMPLE VS PRESENT
CONTINUOUS

What does Rihanna do? What is Rihanna doing?
She is a singer. She is walking on the
stage.

By Carme Flores, SI Vallbona,
2012

PRESENT SIMPLE
 Uses: regular habits and routines; things that are
always true (permanent situations or scientific facts);
states, not actions; future only with timetabled activities.
 Time-adverbials  Frequency adverbs and
expressions: always, usually, often, sometimes, rarely,
seldom/ hardly ever, never; once a week, twice a year,
three times a day; every day/ week/ summer, etc.
 Form:
Aff. The sun rises in the east; Mary often wears trainers;
They play tennis; She is very optimistic; The train leaves
at 10.15 a.m. Neg. The sun doesn´t rise in the west;
Mary doesn´t usually wear trainers; They don´t play
tennis; She isn´t very optimistic; The train doesn´t leave
at 10 a.m. Q. Does Mary often wear trainers? (Yes, she
does./ No, she doesn´t.); Do they play tennis? (Yes, they
do./ No, they don´t.), Is she very optimistic? (Yes, she is.
/ No, she isn´t.)

He/she/it Verb -s/-es
SPELLING
 V+-s: likes, walks, drinks, eats, etc.
 V-o +-es: goes, does
 V-ss/-sh/-ch/-x + -es: passes, pushes,
matches, fixes, etc…
 V+consonant+-y  -ies: studies, cries,
etc.

PRESENT CONTINUOUS
 Uses: Actions happening now or around now;
temporary actions; changing situations; future plans or
arrangements.
 Time-adverbials : now, right now, at the moment,
these days, today, at present, nowadays, this week, next
Saturday, tomorrow at 5.00, etc.
 Form:
Aff. The sun is shining today; Mary is wearing trainers;
“Look! The dog is biting the sofa!”; They are playing a lot
of tennis these days; I’m living with my aunt for a couple
of weeks; I´m going to the dentist tomorrow at 6.00.
Neg. The sun isn´t shining today. It´s very cloudy; They
aren´t playing much tennis these days.
Q. Is the sun shining today? (Yes, it is.; No, it isn´t.); Are
they playing tennis these days? (Yes, they are.; No, they
aren´t.)

V- ing
SPELLING
 V-e  live: living; smoke: smoking
 V-ie V-ying die: dying, lie: lying
 V-CVC* double consonant (except for X,W. Stress
on last syllable)
run: running, swim: swimming, refer: referring,
dub:dubbing, sit: sitting, stop: stopping, also exceptionally in
British English travel:travelling

*CVC=Consonant Vowel Consonant

STATIVE VERBS
Stative verbs are not usually used with progressive
tenses (i.e: present continuous, past continuous, etc.)

 Dislike, hate, like, love, prefer, want, wish .
 Believe, doubt, feel (=have an opinion), guess, imagine,
know, mean, realise, recognize, remember, suppose,
think (=have an opinion), understand.
 Hear, see, measure (=have length, etc.), taste (=have a
flavour), smell (=give out a smell), sound, weigh (=have
weight).
 Belong to, concern, consist of, contain, depend on,
deserve, fit, include, involve, lack, matter, need, owe,
possess.
 Appear, resemble, seem.

Compare the progressive or non-
progressive use of certain stative verbs:
 What are you thinking about? I think you´re right.
 I´m feeling fine. I feel we shouldn´t do it.
 Why are you smelling the meat? Is it bad? The meat
smells bad.
 `What are you doing with my whisky?´ - `I´m just tasting it.´
 It tastes wonderful.
 The scales broke when I was weighing myself this morning.
 I weighed 68 kilos three months ago – and look at me now!
 Why´s that man measuring the street? I measure 75 cm.
round the waist.
 I´m seeing philip tomorrow. I see what you mean.
 I can see a woman wearing a yellow dress.

Present simple vs present continuous

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